Almost a year after the country’s largest carmaker first showcased the car at the 2016 Auto Expo, Maruti-Suzuki finally unveiled the production version of their latest small car IGNIS in front of the media. Speaking to the media, Maruti-Suzuki Assistant Vice-President, Marketing, Vinay Pant mentioned that this was the first car in India specifically targeted at ‘millennials’ - the term used by marketers to define consumers born between 1990 and 2000, but usually including people born in the late-1980’s as well.
Randhir Singh Kalsi, Executive Officer, marketing and Sales, Maruti-Suzuki highlighted that this was a consumer class that did not grow up during the shortages of pre-liberalisation India. “These are consumers who are on their smartphones and social media all the time, this is a consumer category that carmakers have not addressed until now.” Towards this, Maruti-Suzuki has aimed to make the IGNIS more appealing through both its interior and exterior design and onboard technology. “We have noticed that these group of consumers want the latest technology, so this car features both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Buyers will also be able to choose two-tone colour options as well as customise the car with unique roof wraps as well as in the interior”, Pant pointed out.
The IGNIS will feature the tried and tested engine options from Maruti which are the 1.2 Petrol and the 1.3 Diesel. However, nodding to the safety conscious nature of millennials, the carmaker will offer two front airbags, anti-lock brakes and electronic brake distribution as standard. The car which is on a new fifth-generation small car platform has also been crash tested for both offset-front and side-impacts which are expected to become mandatory from next year.
The IGNIS which will be officially released on January 13, will start accepting bookings in the first wekk of January itself at Maruti’s Nexa dealership network as well as on the web at www.nexaexperience.com a first for a Maruti product.
“We feel this is the perfect Nexa product”, Kalsi said when asked why maruti chose its premium network of stores rather than regular showrooms, “Nexa showrooms are highly digital and this is a car for the digital generation, it is a perfect fit for Nexa.”
In another first, Maruti is going to officially launch the vehicle at an electronic music concert in a ‘Direct to Consumer’ launch.
Asked about the delays in launching this car which was initially planned for late-2016, Kalsi explained that the unexpectedly high demand for the Baleno and Brezza had led to some production constraints for the carmaker. However, with Suzuki’s new plant in Gujarat coming online in January, Kalsi expected production issues to ease and with the new factory hitting peak production by March 2017, Kalsi expected the IGNIS to be a sales hit. He added that Nexa outlets have already touched 197 and should hit 250 outlets in over 150 cities by March 31, 2017.